wizard-Muggle relations (was: JKR, Harry Potter, and the Nature of Evil)

[zora_djevojka at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20202


Apologies for posting this so late, but I've been trying to catch up. 
(Interesting things always happen when one is not around.)

Snipped from David's great post (# 19670):


>The root of this fear is the fragility of wizarding identity.  They
>believe, not without reason, that if they declare themselves to the
>Muggles, they will be rejected and persecuted.  To justify their
>separation from the rest of humanity they try to give themselves a
>separate identity as `purebloods' ­ Fudge's `wizarding pride'.  The
>existence of wizards with Muggle parents however negates this, unless
>they too can be characterised as `mudbloods' and excluded from the
>community (represented in the books by Hogwarts).

[...]

>But none of this works.  At bottom they know they *are* human.  But
>the cutting out of a separate `wizarding' identity that tries to deny
>this causes them to fear their own magicality, and to characterise
>unusual powers such as Parseltongue as dark.
>
>I believe that it is this uncertainty of identity that fuels wizard
>prejudice, the devotion of the Death Eaters to Voldemort, and
>ultimately the quest of Voldemort himself to be no longer human.
>
>I would suggest, therefore, that the essence of evil in Harry Potter
>is to refuse to admit to being human, in the case of wizards, to
>being a Muggle who happens to have some interesting and useful gifts.


I think that David did an  excellent job at identifying the underlying 
causes of  evil in the wizarding society.

What concerns me, though, is this feeling that most wizards really do 
regard Muggles as inferior to them. I do not know what events led to the 
passing of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy (though I can 
guess), but, IMO, wizards _today_ regard Muggles as people that can make 
trouble for the wizards but who are really not up to their standard. More 
of a nuisance than a danger, in fact.

One reason for this could be that magical technology is superior to Muggle 
technology, and that Muggles really cannot ever learn how to master it.

Having said all that, I'd better give examples. The most blatant one, IMHO, 
is the use of the Memory charm. In the two examples that this charm was 
used on wizards the casters had some illicit motive (Lockhart and Crouch 
Sr.). The possible exception could be Neville's case (I think that such 
scenario is believable), but those were not exactly normal circumstances 
either.

However, the memory charm (which does have side effects) is routinely used 
on Muggles. I know that in some cases its use is probably inevitable, but I 
agree with list members (sorry, cannot credit) who, in a Lockhart related 
thread, said that the QWC Roberts episode upset them. They were Obliviating 
the poor man each time a wizard walked by in wrong clothes, tried to pay 
gold coins, or lit a fire with a wand. Half of these instances could have 
been avoided had the wizards exercised some care. (Bagman I don't even want 
to comment on).

I'm not saying that every wizard should be forced to take Muggle studies, 
but some understanding of the different culture that surrounds them would 
be helpful (BTW, are there any Gryffindors in that class? Ron had to ask 
Justin about Hermione's attendance.)

I could be making some logical fallacy here, but I can envision the way in 
which such climate could lead to some wizards adopting even more drastic 
opinions about Muggles (and to spinning-levitating charms).


Vlatka- who apologizes if this came out as a rant



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